REVIEW 1: CHAPTERS 1–3VOCABULARY TO KNOW

NOUNSannus, ī, m. – yearargentum, ī, n. – silver aurum, ī, n. – goldconiūnx, coniugis, m./f. – spousecōnsilium, ī, n. – advice (you already know the mean-

ing “plan”)custōs, custōdis, m. – guarddiscipula, ae, f. – student (female)dominus, ī, m. – master, lordeques, equitis, m. – horsemanfāma, ae, f. – fame, name, reputationfīnis, fīnis, m. – endfrāter, frātris, m. – brothergēns, gentis, f. – tribe, populationincola, ae, m. – inhabitantīnsula, ae, f. – islandlīs, lītis, f. – dispute, quarrel magister, magistrī, m. – teacher (male)mātrimōnium, ī, n. – marriagemerīdiēs, merīdiēī, m. – south (you already know the

meaning “midday”)mōs, mōris, m. – custom, habit, pl. moralsmundus, ī, m. – world odium, ī, n. – hatredortus, ortūs, m. – rising, beginning, origin; ortus sōlis

– east piscis, piscis, m. – fi shsalūs, salūtis, f. – health, welfaresōl, sōlis, m. – sunvestis, vestis, f. – clothes, att irevōx, vōcis, f. – voicevultus, vultūs, m. – face

ADJECTIVESaltus, a, um – tall, deepbrevis, breve – shortclārus, a, um – clear, distinguishedgravis, grave – heavy, serious improbus, a, um – bad, wicked septentriōnālis, septentriōnāle – northernsitus, a, um – situated, located

VERBSaspiciō, ere, aspexī, aspectum – to look at, catch a

glimpse ofdiscō, ere, didicī, — – to learngerō, ere, gessī, gestum – to wear (you already know

the meaning “carry”)gignō, ere, genuī, genitum – to produce, give birthinveniō, īre, invēnī, inventum – to come upon, fi ndiungō, ere, iūnxī, iūnctum – to joinoccupō, āre, āvī, ātum – to occupypariō, ere, peperī, partum – to give birth toperdō, ere, perdidī, perditum – to lose, wasteprōmitt ō, ere, prōmīsī, prōmissum – to promisescrībō, ere, scrīpsī, scrīptum – to writesinō, ere, sīvī, situm + accusative + infi nitive – to allow

somebody to do something valeō, ēre, valuī, — – to be in good health

ADVERBShodiē – todayinterdum – sometimesmāne – in the morningnē – negative particle with the subjunctivenusquam – nowhere procul – far away utinam – I wish that, if only (a particle of wishing)

• 49 •

50 • Latin for the New Millennium

CONJUNCTIONSat – butet . . . et . . . – both . . . and . . . nē + subjunctive – in order not to, lest shouldut + indicative – asut + subjunctive – in order to, so thatvel – or

PHRASESodiō habeō + accusative – I hate somebodysalūtem dīcō + dative – I greet (a customary way to

begin a lett er)uxōrem dūcō – to marry (a woman), take as a wife

EXERCISE 1Conjugate the following verbs in the present and imperfect subjunctive, both active and passive.

1. occupō, occupāre, occupāvī, occupātum

2. prōmitt ō, prōmitt ere, prōmisī, prōmissum

EXERCISE 2Change the indicative verbs into the subjunctive, keeping the same person, number, tense, and voice. Give the basic meaning of each verb.

Example: parās parēs to prepare

1. iungēbantur 7. pariēbam2. aspicitur 8. gereris3. poterās 9. gignēbāminī4. inveniunt 10. discō5. valēmus 11. perdit6. occupāris 12. sinēbāmus

EXERCISE 3Translate into Latin.

1. In Paris Heloise was a student and Abelard her teacher.

2. Charlemagne was an emperor not in Rome but in Aachen.

3. Caesar sailed to Dover in order to occupy Britain.

4. Aft er Abelard and Heloise were separated, Heloise went to Argenteuil. For a long time Helo-ise was not able to leave Argenteuil. She had to live at Argenteuil.

Aachen – Aquisgrānum, ī, n. Charlemagne – Carolus, ī, m. MāgnusAbelard – Abaelardus, ī, m. Dover – Dubrī, ōrum, m. pl.Argenteuil – Argentiōlum, ī, n. Heloise – Heloīsa, ae, f. Britain – Britannia, ae, f. Paris – Lutetia, ae, f. Caesar – Caesar, Caesaris, m.

Review 1: Chapters 1–3 • 51

EXERCISE 4Identify the subjunctive in each sentence as a volitive, an optative, or a negative imperative used as a negative volitive. Translate the sentences.

Example: Magistrum audiās!audiās volitive subjunctive You should listen to the teacher!

1. Dēs mihi argentum et aurum!

2. Nōlīte magistrōs odiō habēre!

3. Scrībāmus epistulam ad patrem, ad mātrem, ad frātrem et ad improbum coniugem!

4. Utinam māgnam fāmam in mundō habeam!

5. Utinam nē sint lītēs in hāc gente!

6. Bonī mōrēs colantur!

Th e White Cliff s of Dover, a chalk formation, face continental Europe at the narrowest point of the English Channel. Th e armed Britons standing on the cliff s forced Caesar to beach down the coast. Th e Norman forces in 1066

also landed down the coast at Pevensey where the Romans had built a fort.

52 • Latin for the New Millennium

EXERCISE 5Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verb in parentheses. Translate the sentences.

Example: Comedō ut __________ (vīvō).Comedō ut vīvam. I eat in order to live.

1. Pictī ad īnsulam nāvigāvērunt ut domum __________. (inveniō) Pictī, ōrum, m. pl. – Picts

2. Hibernī nōn sinēbant Pictōs ibi manēre nē multī incolae in illā īnsulā __________. (sum) Hibernī, ōrum, m. pl. – Irishmen

3. Tandem Pictī discessērunt ut aliam īnsulam __________. (quaerō)

4. Carolus Māgnus cōnsilia aliōrum nōn petēbat nē mala cōnsilia __________. (accipiō) Carolus, ī, m. Māgnus – Charlemagne

5. Dum comedēbat, Carolus Māgnus cupiēbat librōs legī ut eōs __________. (audiō)

6. Abaelardus et Heloīsa ūnā manēbant ut amōrem __________. (colō) Abaelardus, ī, m. – Abelard Heloīsa, ae, f. – Heloise

EXERCISE 6Fill in the blank with the correct form of the verb keeping the same person, number, and voice. Translate the changed sentence.

Example: Comedō ut vīvam.Comēdēbam ut vīverem. I ate in order to live.

1. Omnia parant ut mātrimōniō iungantur.

Omnia parābant ut mātrimōniō __________.

2. Aurum et argentum cupiō ut dīvitiās habeam.

Aurum et argentum cupiēbam ut dīvitiās __________.

3. Ambulant ad merīdiem ut novam patriam inveniant.

Ambulābant ad merīdiem ut novam patriam __________.

4. Piscēs comedimus ut bene valeāmus.

Piscēs comedēbāmus ut bene __________.

Our ancient sources on Greek mythological heroes portray them as extraordinary individuals. For one thing, they are said to have been born in unusual circumstances, oft en to mortal moth-ers and divine fathers. For another, these sources report that upon reaching manhood all of these heroes were compelled to leave their familiar surroundings, to undertake a quest that required the performance of diffi cult deeds, and through these experiences to learn more not only about the wider world but also about themselves.

PERSEUSPerseus, for example, was the son of a mortal princess named Danaë and the god Zeus. Because an oracle told her father Acrisius that his grandson would kill him, Acrisius locked Danaë up in a bronze tower. Nevertheless, aft er Zeus managed to visit her there by disguising himself as a shower of golden rain, Dan-aë gave birth to Perseus. Enraged, Acri-sius set both his daughter and grandson adrift in a boat, hoping Perseus would die, but the two were saved. When Per-seus grew up, he was forced to go on a quest to kill the Gorgon Medusa.

Th e three Gorgons of Greek mythol-ogy were the daughters of Phorcys and Ceto. Hideous creatures covered with scales, they had hair writhing with snakes and hands made out of brass. Th ey were said to reside in the far west of the ancient Mediterranean world, near the ocean, and to guard the entrance to the underworld. Of the three sisters, Medusa was the only mortal.

CONSIDERING THE HEROESOF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY

A triumphant Perseus holds the head of the Gorgon Medusa. Th e Renaissance produced many artworks inspired by classical mythology. Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571) signed his 18 foot bronze statue along the strap over Perseus’ torso.

• 53 •

54 • Latin for the New Millennium

Th e Gorgon Medusa was a frightening female monster with snakes for hair and a boar-like snout. Th ose who looked at her turned to stone. Since the goddess Athena had equipped Perseus with a shield, he was able to kill Medusa by looking at her refl ection on the shield and in this way avoid being turned to stone. While returning from his heroic venture, Perseus was also able to free the princess Andromeda, who had been bound to a rock and was under att ack by a sea monster.

Andromeda was an Ethiopian princess. Her mother Cassiopeia had dared to compare her own beauty to that of the sea nymphs known as Nereids. Cassiopeia’s behavior so enraged both the Nereids and the sea god Poseidon that he sent the sea monster to ravage her country.

Many men had sought to marry Andromeda, but they had done nothing to help when the sea monster threatened her life. Once Perseus rescued her, however, they claimed the right to her hand in marriage. Perseus proceeded to turn all of these suitors into stone by using Medusa’s head, and to wed Andromeda himself. Aft er Perseus and Andromeda were married, he acciden-tally killed his grandfather Acrisius, who happened to be among the spectators on an occasion when Perseus was playing with a discus. Th us Acrisius met the fate prophesied by the oracle, even though he tried to escape it.

HERACLESHeracles is the greatest of the ancient Greek heroes, since he alone among them achieved immortality. His father, the god Zeus, had visited his mother, a mortal woman named Alcmene, dis-guised as her husband Amphitryon. Once Alcmene gave birth to Heracles, Zeus’ wife Hera, ever jealous, sent a pair of snakes to att ack the baby in his cradle. Heracles strangled them with his bare hands. According to one Greek legend, Zeus then put the baby to Hera’s own breast while she was sleeping, so that his son might drink the milk of immor-tality. Hera, however, woke up suddenly and threw Heracles out of heaven: the milk that then fl owed out of her breast was said to have poured into the sky as the Milky Way.

Hercules’ character is full of contra-dictions. He is described as having enor-mous, indeed divine, physical strength, but in combination with mortal fl esh. Con-sequently, he is portrayed as frequently

Temples to Hercules from the Greco-Roman world abound from Rome’s seaport Ostia to Egypt. Th e temple on the citadel in Amman, Jordan, larger than any temple in Rome itself, was built from 162–166 ce. Dur-ing the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama held his fi rst press conference in a foreign nation at this site.

Considering the Heroes of Classical Mythology • 55

violent, unbalanced, and unable to control both his body and his emotions. He is best known for the twelve labors that he performed, and for traveling to the outer limits of the ancient Mediter-ranean world in order to perform them. Here are two of Hercules’ labors. Th e fi rst involved a journey to the underworld to retrieve Cerberus, a three-headed dog who guards its gates. Th e second was the killing of the Nemean lion, again with his bare hands, aft er he realized that the lion’s skin was impervious to all weapons.

Heracles’ violent disposition led him to kill his fi rst wife and children in a fi t of rage. His own death resulted from a cruel misunderstanding by his second wife De-ianira. She dipped Heracles’ cloak in a liquid that she thought was a love potion, but turned out to be poison, and burned her husband’s body badly. He was so tor-tured by physical pain that he set fi re to himself on his own funeral pyre. Unable to endure the prospect of having his favor-ite son dwell in the underworld, Zeus ar-ranged for Heracles to be transported to the abode of the gods on Mount Olympus, and granted him immortality.

THESEUSTh eseus is celebrated in ancient Greek legends for his exploits that protected the city of Athens, particularly the slay-ing of the Cretan Minotaur, half-human and half-bull. When Th eseus was a young man, the Athenians were forced to pay a terrible tribute to King Minos of Crete: each year seven young men and seven young women were sent there to be de-voured by the Minotaur, who dwelled in a maze under Minos’ palace known as the labyrinth. Having resolved to slay the monster, Th eseus sailed to Crete with the fourteen prospective victims; the princess Ariadne, Minos’ daughter, promptly fell in love with him and aided him by provid-ing him with a sword and a ball of thread. Th eseus unrolled the thread as he entered the labyrinth so that he could fi nd the exit

A Roman mosaic depicts Heracles destroying the Stymphalian birds, winged creatures whose bronze beaks and claws readily destroyed humans. A large mosaic in Volubilis, Morocco illustrating all twelve of Heracles’ labors includes the scene excerpted here.

Th rough the ages the fi gure of the Minotaur has fascinated artists from the Greek vase painters to Picasso. Th eseus killing the Mino-taur sculpted by Étienne-Jules Ramey (1796–1852) stands in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris, France.

56 • Latin for the New Millennium

when the time came to leave. In gratitude, he took Ariadne away with him, promising to marry her. While they were traveling back to Athens, however, he abandoned her on the island of Naxos while she was fast asleep. Upon awakening, she cursed Th eseus in an-ger and despair, and the gods punished him in the following manner.

Th eseus had sailed to and from Crete in a ship with black sails. He had promised his father upon his departure from Athens that if he were to be successful in slaying the Mi-notaur, he would change these black sails to white sails as he approached Athens. If the Minotaur were to have slain him, however, his ship would continue to have black sails. As a result of Ariadne’s curse, Th eseus for-got to change the sails from black to white, leading his father Aegeus to believe that his son was dead. Aegeus is said to have then jumped into the sea out of grief and despair, giving his own name to what was thereaft er called the Aegean Sea.

Excavations of King Minos’ palace at Knossos provide some of the factual evidence that gave rise to the Minotaur myth. With its multiple stories, staircases, lightwells, and 600–700 rooms, the palace was labyrinthine. A fresco showing young men leaping over a bull suggests an alternative view of the annual tribute.

JASONJason was the least physically impressive of the Greek mythic heroes, perhaps because he was the son of two mortals. His quest involved retrieving the Golden Fleece from the eastern shore of the Black Sea. Aft er sailing there on a ship called the “Argo” with a crew of sailors called the “Argonauts,” he benefi ted from the help of Medea, daughter of the king who possessed the Golden Fleece, and a skillful sorceress. She went so far as to kill her own brother and scatt er his body parts in the sea in order to delay her father, who was pursuing her and Jason. For Medea knew that her father would abandon his pursuit in order to retrieve his son’s remains and give them a proper burial.

Considering the Heroes of Classical Mythology • 57

Medea and Jason fl ed to Greece, and lived there as exiles with their two sons. But eventually Jason decided to aban-don her for a younger Greek princess, whose father was king of Corinth. Th e despairing Medea took revenge by kill-ing her rival, and her own two children as well. Greek myths claim that Jason met his own death while sleeping un-der the Argo, aft er the rott en prow of the ship fell and crushed him.

Th e Argonauts fi nd the Golden Fleece which the Col-chians had placed in a spring to collect alluvial gold dust. Th e woodcut was published in Georgius Agri-cola’s 1556 treatise on mining Dē rē metallicā. Note that the author chose to Latinize his name, George Bauer. His treatise remained the authoritative text in geology for 250 years.

READ THE FOLLOWING PASSAGEAriadna aspexit nāvem, quā Th ēseus discēdēbat, et exclāmāvit: “Cūr mē, improbe, relinquis? Crētam, in patriam meam, vēnistī ut cum Mīnōtaurō pugnārēs. Auxilium tibi dedī ut eum vincere possēs. Prōmīsistī tē mē uxōrem ductūrum. Mēcum Crētā nāve discessistī. Deinde hanc parvam īnsulam petīvimus. Et hīc, dum dormiēbam, Athēnās sine mē nāvigāvistī. Audiās verba mea et mēcum maneās! Mē uxōrem dūcās! Nōlī mē relinquere! . . . At nōn audīre vidēris. Utinam deī tē familiamque tuam pūniant! Utinam omnia tibi sint fūnesta!”

Ariadna, ae, f. – Ariadne hīc (adv.) – hereAthēnae, ārum, f. pl. – Athens Mīnōtaurus, ī, m. – MinotaurCrēta, ae, f. – Crete Th ēseus, ī, m. – Th eseus

THE ORDERS OF MEDIEVAL SOCIETYTh ree diff erent classes comprised medieval western Euro-pean society from the Frankish era until the mid-eleventh century ce. Th e rulers in theory were the warrior class, who also constituted the nobility. Next were the clerics, who held various positions in the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the Roman church throughout all of Western Europe. To appreciate the importance of this particular group, we must realize that clerics made up a far larger percentage of the population than they do today. Th e clerics included not only those who performed strictly religious functions but also doctors, educators, record-keepers for the nobility, and lawyers. Last, but by no means least, were the peas-ants and agricultural workers, without whose labors West-ern Europe could not have sustained itself. Th e origins of these social distinctions are not altogether clear, but they appear to have emerged from hierarchies already present in Germanic societies as well as from relations of protec-tion and dependence typical of late imperial Roman soci-ety. Th e social organization formed by the nobility and the peasants, an entity that also included the church in some regions and some periods, is referred to as “feudalism.” Th is word did not actually exist in the Middle Ages as a

• 58 •

CONNECTING WITH THE POST-ANCIENT WORLD

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry shows the Anglo-Saxon defenders confronting William’s Norman invaders. Th e tapestry provides a vi-sual account of events leading up to the Batt le of Hastings as well as scenes of the confl ict itself. Notations in Latin identify individuals in the 230 foot cloth panel. Halley’s Comet of 1066 is depicted on the tapestry.

King Harold II is killed by a Norman arrow in the Batt le of Hastings in 1066. Th e victori-ous William henceforth known as William the Conqueror relied on his cavalry to defeat the Anglo-Saxons. Th e Norman Conquest brought to England a French-speaking court whose leg-acy is found in so many Latin-based words in the English language.

Connecting with the Post-Ancient World • 59

description of this specifi c form of social organization, but was devised by legal scholars in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to describe the system of lords and their dependents in ear-lier, medieval times. We still employ this word today for social and economic systems involving human dependence. Yet it is worth noting that medieval feudalism adopted diff erent forms in dif-ferent circumstances. Feudalism spread from France to England with the conquest of the Anglo-Saxons by the Normans in 1066, and then to Germany, but never took strong root in Italy.

Th e feudal system centered on land-holding. A knight, or eques in Latin, oft en served as the “vassal,” or dependent of a more powerful lord, who was called by the Latin word for leader, dux (from which English derives the title “duke”), or the Latin word for companion, comes (from which comes the English title “count”). Th e use of these terms to denote nobles of high status seems to have its origins in Diocle-tian’s reorganization of the Roman provinces at the end of the third century ce; these words were at that time applied to Roman magistrates.

Th e word eques of course had already existed in the Roman republic, but in ancient Roman society it referred to the class of well-to-do Romans excluded at fi rst from senatorial sta-tus because of their connections with commerce and trade. Originally, however, Roman equitēs had supplied the caval-ry for Rome’s fi ghting forces; this association with horses is what they shared with equitēs in the medieval period.

Th e knight astride his horse was a formidable sight. Th e armor, which weighed as much as fi ft y pounds, protected the knight from an array of weapons. Carefully made to fi t, the armor was a status symbol. Th is modern Renaissance Faire knight’s equipment is a collection of items based on fi ft eenth and sixteenth century models.

Carisbrooke Castle on England’s Isle of Wight stands on a former Roman site. Earthworks were constructed in 1070 ce and construction contin-ued to include massive towers in the fourteenth and fi ft eenth centuries.

In medieval society, vassals were given a parcel of land, or “fi ef ” (sometimes referred to as feudum in medieval Latin) to use. Att ached to it were ten-ant farmers or peasants, who would live from the produce of the land. In return, the vassal would rec-ognize the higher lord as his superior, and pay him in the form of military service, for approximately forty days each year, as a member of the overlord’s

60 • Latin for the New Millennium

comitātus, or “retinue.” If either the overlord or the vassal were to die, the feudal contract would be renewed between the successor of either party in a ceremony called “homage” (at times called homāgium in medieval Latin). In this way the fi ef would remain in the same family for genera-tions. Th is system was able to function without the exchange of any money; by the mid-eleventh century ce, however, the rise of towns—in which economics based on money, trade, craft smen, and banking fl ourished—caused a gradual erosion of feudal society.

Kings and the highest-ranking nobles tend-ed to favor dealing with towns: not only could they cash in on their economic profi ts, but they could then use this money to hire soldiers for standing armies that would be more than a match for any feudal comitātus. Monarchs were, in fact, eager to weaken the power of the feudal nobility in their territories. In certain European regions, especially what is now Bel-gium, northern Germany, and Italy, individual towns and even city states grew very powerful indeed. In them developed a new aristocracy which owed its infl uence to money, banking, and trade, rather than to hereditary noble rank and the possession of feudal domains.

Th e stained glass windows of the Gothic cathedrals and church-es provide a glimpse into the everyday life of the medieval pe-riod. Here the noble seated on his throne with sword in hand receives two gentlemen.

Th e hilltop town of Carcassonne in southern France is considered a superb example of a medieval walled town. Th e inner wall was built by the Romans and the Visigoths while the outer wall with its

towers was built by Louis IX in 1240 ce. Th e Trencavel family ruled the area from their fortifi ed palace.

Connecting with the Post-Ancient World • 61

Th e offi cial language of the clerical class throughout the Middle Ages was Latin, although we should not suppose that every individual cleric was as profi cient in Latin as he was expected to be. Communications among the feudal nobility and agricultural peasantry were in the vernacular languages that would develop into the national languages we know today, such as French, English, German and others. Th is communication was chiefl y oral in nature; in fact, it was unusual for documents and texts to be writt en in these languages before 1200 ce, with the partial exception of those writt en in pre-Norman England under Saxon rulers. Latin tended to be the language employed for administration and record-keeping, and was virtually the exclusive language of the academic world, the sciences, and the church. Nevertheless, with the development of towns, and especially aft er the start of what we call the “Renaissance” in Italy around 1400 ce, non-clerical nobility started to become literate, learning and actively using Latin. A Latin education became a status symbol for the non-clerical nobility, especially aft er the late fi ft eenth century ce.

LOVE AND LONGINGLove stories such as that of Heloise and Abelard have moved us for centuries, particularly when we fi nd the story to be “tragic” in some way. But what makes any story tragic? To answer this question, we must reach back to the ancient world, where our notions of tragedy (in western cul-ture), and our ideas about “true love” or even “soul mates” fi rst take shape.

Performances of tragic plays occurred in Athens annually for the bett er part of two centuries, and such performances were an important aspect of the life of the city. It was the Greek philoso-pher Aristotle who made a formal study of the genre of tragedy in an att empt to analyze what tragedy is and why human beings react to it so profoundly. In Aristotle’s view, we derive a certain emotional benefi t called “catharsis”—an emotional release—through watching a tragic perfor-mance, which should inspire reactions consisting of both “pity and fear” in its audience. We feel pity for the poor characters experiencing whatever disaster is part of the play’s action, and we feel fear that something like that could happen to us. According to Aristotle, the best tragic perfor-mances elicited these fundamental emotions.

But tragedy was a complex genre, and there are other features that should be part of a good tragic performance. First, the characters must be good—otherwise, we could not relate to them or care about what happens to them. Second, there was oft en a reversal of circumstances, in which a character’s life shift s from a position of prosperity to one of suff ering. Th ird, there was oft en a sense of irony regarding that shift —and most oft en, the character him- or herself was in some way, oft en unwitt ingly, personally responsible for that change or suff ering.

When the Greek philosopher Plato wrote about love in the Symposium, he presented early human beings in a light that was both comical and tragic. He described their bodies as spherical, with two faces (looking in opposite directions), four arms and four legs, traveling about by doing cartwheels. While this image is comical, the important point of this depiction was to portray humans as reach-ing beyond their means and ending up in a tragic state; for, as Plato tells the story, these early hu-mans decided to challenge the Olympian gods

EXPLORING TRAGIC LOVE STORIES THROUGH THE AGES

A spectacular sand sculpture reconstructs the ancient Greek bust of Plato that is on display in the Capitoline Museum in Rome. Plato’s theories have strongly infl uenced the thought of successive ages. Th e rediscovery of Plato’s theories on love deeply aff ected the writ-ers, artists, and thinkers of the Renaissance.

• 62 •

Exploring Tragic Love Stories Through the Ages • 63

themselves, and were punished by Zeus—who split them in half. Th is aetiological myth (one which gives us an aitia, a cause or explanation for why things are the way they are) serves to ex-plain why human beings seem to wander the earth searching for their “other half,” and simulta-neously presents the human condition in a manner that enhances our understanding of tragedy as part of our essence. In this view (even though, as stated above, Plato tells the story with comic overtones), humans are incomplete in themselves and remain incomplete until they fi nd their “soul mate,” so to speak, whom they embrace in an eff ort to grow together once again—which, of course, they cannot do. Th erefore, even if we are fortunate enough to fi nd our soul mate, we can never be as truly united as we long to be.

It is this profound longing to be to-gether that oft en characterizes any story of tragic love. Th e lett er of He-loise to Abelard expresses this long-ing—due to the unjust separation of these lovers—in compelling terms, for Heloise describes her isolation as arising from the pain of living not only without Abelard but also without their child. Her sense of connection to Abelard on various levels—as she considers him her father, brother, hus-band, and teacher—demonstrates the extent to which she fi nds her entire world in him, and indeed, she states that her animus cannot exist without him. In this story of tragic love, as in others, our lovers are oft en individu-als who seem “made for each other” in some respect, and they are oft en sepa-rated due to familial or social pres-sures of some kind.

Th is was certainly true of Dido and Aeneas. In many ways, they seemed like the perfect couple. She was a wid-ow, he a widower; both had tragically lost their spouses to the turmoil of war or political unrest. Each of them had taken on the responsibility of leading

a group of their compatriots to a new location where they would establish a new home. Both of them were thus good leaders, strong individuals capable of responding to diffi cult situations, willing to take on personal responsibility for others, and instrumental in moving their people toward the future. Both knew how to help others in need. As such, they seemed two halves of

A full page from the illuminated manuscript containing the love poems of Charles (1391–1465), Duke of Orléans, depicts Heloise and Abelard. Aft er his defeat at the Batt le of Agincourt, Charles was taken as captive to Eng-land. During his twenty-fi ve years in various prisons including the Tower of London, Charles composed hundreds of short poems in French.

64 • Latin for the New Millennium

the same soul. In fact, although Dido was Carthaginian and not Roman, Vergil portrayed her as having the most important quality of a respectable Roman matron—she was a ūnivira—a “one man woman.” Th is important att ribute marked the behavior of women in ancient Rome even aft er their husbands had died, as many of them chose not to remarry since that could have been perceived as being unfaithful to their husbands, even though they were deceased. Dido expresses this sentiment for her deceased husband and hesitates to allow her feelings for Aeneas to grow, but she is persuaded to surrender to her love for Aeneas by her sister, Anna. Th is att itude is one that Heloise also expresses in her address to Abelard as ūnice, “my one and only”; it is perhaps fi rst expressed in western literature by Andromache in Homer’s Iliad, when she described her husband Hector as her father, mother and brothers, who had all been killed in the war.

Despite their intense connection, it was because of (perhaps ironi-cally) his social responsibility to his compatriots that Aeneas had to leave Dido to found Rome. Th e profun-dity of her emotional response com-pelled her to take her own life—an event described by Vergil as occur-ring outside of what was expected, for “she died neither on account of destiny nor through a deserved death” (Aeneid 6.696, nec fātō meritā nec morte perībat). Th us, Dido expe-riences the reversal of fortune from prosperity to suff ering (and some-times death) that is the hallmark of so many tragic fi gures.

A story need not end in death for it to be tragic, but many such tales do. Th e ancient story of Pyramus and Th isbe, for example, told by the Roman author Ovid and the Greek writer Hyginus, depicts a pair of lov-ers whose families were opposed to their marriage. As they were neigh-bors, they used to go into their yards and speak through a small opening in the stone wall. Th ey planned to run off secretly one night to meet and embark on their life together, but a misunderstanding of circumstances led Pyramus to believe that Th isbe was dead, and he took his life. She then found him just as he was dying, and joined him in death, so profound was their desire to remain together. Th is ancient tale was the predecessor of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and both stories dramatize the tragic circumstances that can result when families att empt to keep lovers apart.

Th e high Renaissance painter Dosso Dossi (ca. 1490–1542) served as court art-ist to the humanist Dukes of Ferrara, Italy. Dossi was very familiar with the stories of the Aeneid and he had painted a series of friezes for the palace. Dossi’s richly dressed Dido clings to Aeneas’ helmet as she cries over his departure.

Exploring Tragic Love Stories Through the Ages • 65

Th is kind of story has found many represen-tations in literature and art throughout the cen-turies; one recent example is the story of Jack and Rose in the fi lm Titanic. Once again, the lovers seem to be kindred spirits—Rose longs for the freedom in life that Jack has experienced and Jack’s artistic talents inspire appreciation in Rose, who possesses a great love for art and its various representations of the human condi-tion. Yet, Rose’s social standing, her mother’s infl uence, and her fi ancé’s meddling butler all conspire to separate Rose and Jack—until the horrifying demise of the Titanic allows the couple fi rst a way to remain together, then the most tragic of separations. Rose, however, ex-presses the faithfulness of a ūnivira when she adopts the name of Dawson, Jack’s last name, upon her rescue. Even though Rose goes on to live her life, her love for Jack and their kindred desires remain an integral part of who she is.

Shakespeare may well have been writing about any one of these tales when he penned, “the course of true love never did run smooth” (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act I, Scene I, line 134). Th is line, like the tale from Pla-to’s Symposium, occurs in a comic sett ing, as Lysander describes some of the mixed-up cir-cumstances of the various couples in the play. However, whether comic or tragic, the tales of lovers who yearn to be together despite great odds, who seem meant for one another yet can-not bring togetherness to pass—like Dido and Aeneas, Heloise and Abelard, Pyramus and Th isbe, or Rose and Jack—continue to com-pel us to ponder our own desires to love and be loved and the diffi culties we may experience along the way.

Friar Lawrence prays for Romeo who, thinking Juliet was dead, chose death rather than life without his beloved. When Juliet awakens to fi nd Romeo dead she too takes her life. Find-ing Romeo’s poison gone, she takes his sword to her breast. Th e French artists Achille Devéria (1800–1857) and Louis Boulanger (1806–1867) regularly collaborated.

Th e Titanic shipwreck is memorialized in Belfast, Ireland at whose shipyards the ocean liner was built. Th e people of Bel-fast raised the money to pay for the marble memorial by Th omas Brock (1847–1922). Th e 1920 neoclassical sculpture honors the victims of the disaster.

66 • Latin for the New Millennium

To conclude, love and many of our ideas about it are just a few things that link us to other people across the boundaries of time and place, language and culture. Aft er all, human beings are emotional creatures, and emotions can sometimes be the most compelling forces in our lives. As the French writer Blaise Pascal said, “Th e heart has its reasons, whereof reason knows nothing.” While many an ancient philosopher would have counseled us not to lose our heads in love, any lover can tell you that the heart is a mighty warrior. We oft en love unwisely, even when we sense we will ultimately experience pain. As the Tin Woodman of the popular fi lm Th e Wizard of Oz put it, “Now I know I’ve got a heart, because it’s breaking.” It is indeed a bitt ersweet aspect of the human condition that love and tragedy are oft en intricately connected.

Lorina QuartaroneAssociate Professor of Classics

Th e University of Saint Th omasSt. Paul, Minnesota

MĪRĀBILE AUDĪTŪMOTTOES, PHRASES, AND TERMS RELEVANT TO THE

POLITICAL, MILITARY, AND LEGAL WORLDS NOW

MOTTOES

• Regnat populus. “Th e people reign.” Mott o of Arkansas.

• Tuēbor. “I will protect.” Mott o on the Great Seal on the Michigan state fl ag.

• Semper fi dēlis. “Always faithful.” Ab-beviated as “Semper Fi!” Mott o of the United States Marine Corps.

PHRASES AND TERMS

• Vetō. “I forbid.” Th e right to stop a piece of legislation unilaterally. Oft en used as a noun and usually applied to the rejection of congressional bills by the President of the United States of America or to the rejection of United Nations resolutions by the permanent members of the United Nations Secu-rity Council. In ancient Rome, consuls and tribunes had the right of “vetō.”

• Quōrum. “Of whom.” Th e number of members of a certain institution re-quired to be present so that the meet-ing of that group may be legal.

• Bonā fi dē. “In good faith,” that is “sin-cerely.” A part of a signature under a document.

• Aff īdāvit. “He asserted.” A legal term which denotes a sworn statement.

• Audiātur et altera pars! “Let the other part (side) be heard, too!” A legal principle of fairness.

• 67 •

While Americans fi rst associate the power of veto with the Presi-dent, other chief executives such as mayors and governors are also empowered to veto legislation. Proponents of a piece of legislation oft en organize demonstrations in support of the bill and against it being vetoed.

Th e United States Marine Corps War Memorial is located near Ar-lington National Cemetery in Virginia. It commemorates the World War II batt le of Iwo Jima and is dedicated to all personnel of the USMC who have died defending their country since 1775.